"You found it?" Samara seemed surprised by Shepard's success. Shepard for her part tried her best not to smirk like an idiot at the smug Asari. She wasn't doing a very good job of it. "I am impressed." The Justicar added begrudgingly.
As it turned out finding the ship name proved to be surprisingly easy. Rather then waste time talking to every single Eclipse sister they ran into, Shepard decided go straight to the mercenery leader for the information. Garrus called it her "Infiltrator sensibilities"; when faced with a problem shoot it in the head. Not that he was complaining, being a sniper himself as well.
Granted that still required shooting their way through most of the Eclipse mercs in their hideout. And it's true, between her and Garrus most of them were left without a face as a result. With Thane as their back up the majority of them never even realized they were under attack before they died. Their leader put up a good fight, but in the end her head popped just like the rest of her sisters.
"Oh ye of little faith." Shepard smiled at the Justicar as she waved the datapad in her hand that contained the information they had found on the AML Demeter. "I also found an interesting tidbit about your little fugitive I wanted to ask you about." She leaned forward slightly before asking, "Just what is this Ardat-Yakshi you're after?"
The way the Justicar's eyes widened in shock alone was almost worth it.
"Once again you manage to impress me." Samara once again forced herself to admit.
As curious as Shepard was about whatever this Ardat-Yakshi, her real motive for showing what she knew was to prove to the Justicar that her intel was good. Now she knew she had something to bargin with.
"An Ardat-Yakshi?!" Detective Anaya's outburst was almost comedic but equally surprising in its suddenness. "Why didn't you tell me you were after something so dangerous!"
"I am under no obligation to tell you anything when it comes to my sacred duty, detective." Samara said calmly. Shepard was sure there was a hint of annoyance and dismissiveness in her words; she was getting better at reading the cold face of the Justicar.
"Yeah? And if you had told me about this earlier I could have taken it to my superiors." Anaya insisted, "They would have been much more likely to leave you alone. Scratch that they would probably be willing to do anything to capture her. We could have been on alert, watch out for bodies of her victims."
"Telling you anything about my target would have only alerted her to my presence." Samara explained, "She would have disappeared leaving no trail for me to follow."
"And how many people died at her hands because you refused to warn us?" The Detective accused her.
"Likely a fair number of people." Samara said bluntly, "But their deaths are insignificant compared to all the people she will kill if she is allowed to go free. Her capture and execution are all that matters."
"You don't even care about the people she's killed do you?" Anaya shot back.
"Nor should I." Sarama replied coldly, "My duty is to capture this criminal, not coddle the populous."
"Why you-" Anaya began.
"Not that this isn't fascinating or anything." Shepard interrupted forcefully, mostly for the Detective's sake. Though there was no obvious sign, Shepard was certain that Samara was close to killing Anaya simply for questioning her methods. "We still have a suicide mission we're recruiting for, and I need the best. Right now that means you, Samara."
"As I continue to explain to all of you." Samara was probably irritated now, "My only priority at the moment is chasing down this fugitive. I cannot help you."
"I still have the only clue for you to follow in my hand." Shepard said cooly, "I think it's a fair trade for your services."
"You dare to extort my services in this way?" Samara threatened.
"No, this isn't extortion, I'm offering to help you." Shepard explained, she waited to see the oh so subtle wave of confusion flow across Samara's face before continuing, "I'll give you the intel you need to continue your mission. I'll even help you take this Ardat-Yakshi down once you manage to track her down." Shepard emphasized the words to enforce the fact that she had what the Justicar wanted. "But in return I need you on my team when we hit the Collectors. That's the deal."
Samara glared into Shepard's eyes and the Commander knew that the Justicar was considering if it would be easier just to kill her and take the information. Shepard stared right back at her, unflinching, making it clear she wasn't going to backdown and that she was pretty confident she could kill her if it came to that. Fortunately Garrus picked up on the battle of wills and took a determined step forward to back up his Commander. Thane followed suit shortly after presenting Samara with a unified front. It was clear she had little choice in the matter.
"Very well I will accept your terms." Samara said finally.
Shepard was about to give her the datapad when a thought crossed her mind, "Not so fast there." She added, "How do I know that you won't try to kill me if I happen to do anything that doesn't agree with your code."
"Don't be foolish." Samara said with a subtle smile that was a bit unnerving, "If you did anything that violates the Justicar Code you can be certain I would kill you."
"Let me guess," Garrus spoke up, "This is the part where we're supposed to be shocked and scared at the big bad Asari who's threatening to kill us. Again."
"I'm sure you realize, given what we're up against, this might pose a problem." Shepard added.
"The problem is yours in this matter, I simply follow the Code as I've sworn to do." Samara said simply.
"I can respect that," Shepard continued, "But I need assurances that you won't try to kill all of us just because Garrus accidentally walked into the women's bathroom again."
"I'm never going to live that down." Garrus sighed, "It's your own damn fault for using Human gender symbols on your bathroom doors."
"A Justicar does not simply ignore her duty to the Code when it is convenient." Samara insisted crossing her arms, "If you cannot control yourselves that is hardly my concern."
"You could swear an Oath of Submission." Detective Anaya offered suddenly. "That way you won't have to kill them and you can still follow your Code."
"I'm sorry, what Oath?" Shepard asked, she didn't miss how Samara cast a fiery glare at the Detective, as if she had just blurted out her most embarrassing secret.
"The Oath of Submission," Anaya seemed happy to explain, "It's from the stories about Justicars. When they needed help from powerful matriarchs in the old days they could swear their service to the matriarch. That way the Justicar was never forced to choose between following the matriarch's decisions and upholding the Code."
'This must be revenge for not telling her about the Ardat-Yakshi', Shepard thought to herself thoroughly amused.
"What the Detective fails to mention is if the matriarch does anything that goes against the Code that Justicar would be required to kill her once her service comes to an end." Samara added with some insistance.
"So this Oath does exist then?" Shepard asked her.
"Yes." Samara admitted after a noticeable silence.
"And if you take this Oath with me I won't have to worry about you killing me until after we take out the Collectors?" Shepard clarified.
"That is correct." Sarama said, eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"Sounds perfect then." Shepard said with an overly satisfied gleam in her eye. The implications were clear now, Shepard was simply being polite by not explicitly stating them.
"So be it." Samara said. She took a step forward in front of Shepard. Her eyes glowing white with intense biotic energy for a moment before she closed them and knelt in front of the Commander with her head bowed. Anaya stepped forward as well, apparently excited to witness this Oath.
"By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard." Samara swore, "Your choices are my choices, your morals are my morals. Your wishes are my code."
And instant later the Justicar's entire body was lit up with a biotic fire. It seemed to burn for only a moment before it settled down. The aura of her powerful biotics was still glowing by the time Samara stood up facing the Commander once again. Eventually even the intense glow of her eyes faded away as she stood there staring at Shepard.
"I never thought I'd see a Justicar swear an Oath like that." Detective Anaya broke the awkward silence first, she was both happy with herself and in awe of witnessing this ancient Asari myth come to life.
"Uh, ... thanks. I guess." Shepard said.
"I must remind you, should you force me to do anything dishonorable I will be forced to kill you once I am free of my Oath." Samara told her.
"Of course you will, how could we forget." Garrus offered with his usual sarcasm.
"Why don't you head back to the Normandy to get settled in while I wrap things up with the detective here?" Shepard suggested. "Thane could you show her the way?"
"Of course, I'll be glad to." Thane nodded, he turned towards Samara and motioned for her to follow, "If you don't mind, this way please." Soon Thane disappeared into a nearby taxi with Samara following close behind.
"You sure picked a winner there Shepard." Garrus laughed, "When you mentioned this was a suicide mission I figured you were talking about the actual assault. I didn't realize you meant that it would be nearly impossible for all of us to make it to the Collectors before everyone kills each other."
"Laugh it up Garrus, but let's face it, we're probably going to need her." Shepard said back at her Turian friend, "Let's just try to keep out of her way as much as possible until then."
"If you say so." Garrus said, "Though sending the Drell to escort her back to the ship? If I didn't know better I'd say you were scared of her."
"Just being cautious." Shepard told him, "She's a little trigger happy with her powers and Thane's the only biotic between the three of us that has a shot of dealing with her if things go south. Also I'm sure he'd be better then either of us at keeping his mouth shut and not pissing her off. Worst case scenario, well ... he's going to die anyway, right?"
"Shepard, that's horrible!" Garrus pretended to be offended but couldn't resist laughing. He knew the Commander well enough to know that she only made bad jokes at people's expense if she really liked them.